I left for Vegas pretty early on Saturday. Which made me wonder why I was hauling ass the whole way up to Vegas??? I even forgot to slow down as I reached a notorious speed trap right after crossing the state line. As a result, I was pulled over going 91 mph... 21 mph over the speed limit. Sure there was another car going faster than me, but I really deserved this one. The Nevada trooper was definitely shooting fish in a barrel. As soon as he was done with me, he was rushing off to pull over another driver almost rear-ending me in the process. Cha-ching! That only means that I'll be spending way less in food and shopping while I'm in town. One way or another I'm supporting the Vegas economy. :)
Food
I drove over to my favorite ramen shop, Fukumimi Ramen, to eat lunch. It wasn't open yet, so I milled around until it opened. I tried their Kogashi ramen which I haven't seen before on their menu. Just like their other menu items, this one was good.
Kogashi ramen
Pre race stuff
This is a pretty interesting race. Other than the Vegas RnR Marathon, this is the only other race that I've run that's done in the dark. I've always enjoyed running this race. But as a morning person, getting ready for this race is actually pretty hard. My body is thoroughly confused by this race. I stopped by the nearby Albertson's to pick up some drinks before checking into my favorite hotel by the airport, The Hampton Inn. At about 4pm, I headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel to pick up my race packet. After saying hi to a couple of my friends, I went back to my hotel room to relax and force myself to take a short nap. I laid out my race gear and had a bunch of Inversion IPA's to help with the nap.
I wore pink to support my friend who is currently battling breast cancer. :(
Race gear, wearing pink to support breast cancer awareness
Inversion IPA
All gone
Getting to the race
A little before 8pm, I made my way over to the Hard Rock Hotel again this time to catch the bus to the starting line. I thought it was pretty nice that they even had a separate bus designated for the Marathon Maniacs. It was good to see a few familiar faces on the bus. After about a 2 hr bus ride, we were dropped off at the starting area. We took a group photo at the "black" box before our friends that were running the half marathon had to get on the bus to go to their starting line.
Taking the bus with friends from the Hard Rock Hotel to the start
Runners gathering at the starting area
Pre-race photo at the "black" box
The race
This race is pretty much all uphill for the first half and mostly downhill in the second half. After about the first 3 miles, I swore that I would never drink so many beers before a race. My head hurt, my breathing was labored, and I was feeling a bit nauseated. I had to regroup a little, slowed down, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I was feeling pretty miserable. When I finally reached the halfway point, I was starting to feel better. Even though I felt like puking whenever I ate anything, I kept forcing myself to eat my ShotBloks. What's tough with this race is running into the headlights of the cars taking people back home. The light caused some disorientation as my eyes kept having to adjust back to the darkness. I basically stared at about 2 feet in front of me and used the visor to block out as much of the light. You're not done with those pesky car lights until you've reached the Little A'Le'Inn at about mile 20. The next 10k or so was a climb to a turnaround point before making your way back to the finish line at the A'Le'Inn. During the climb, my legs started to cramp up. I kept leapfrogging with another guy who was clearly also suffering from leg cramps. The legs finally loosened up during the last mile, so I was able to run most of it to the finish line a little after the break of dawn.
Pretty close to the finish line, picture from Gio
1-2: 19:28 (9:44)
3: 9:09
4: 11:00
5: 12:37
6: 13:16
7: 14:28
8: 12:34
9: 13:51
10: 13:39
11: 16:32
12: 17:23
13: 15:55
14: 12:34
15: 11:55
16: 13:39
17: 11:58
18: 11:50
19: 12:29
20: 13:18
21: 18:12
22: 13:46
23: 14:18
24: 14:51
25: 14:01
26: 12:06
26.2: 1:58
Finish: 5:46:49
Gun: 5:46:57
Post race thoughts
I've run this race 2 other times and this year's shirt and medal was my favorite! Definitely makes me want to return next year. After crossing the finish line, I just wanted to get back to my hotel room, get cleaned up, and take a nap. I went inside the Inn to check out the post race food. There wasn't much that looked appealing so I went back out and caught the next bus back to the Hard Rock Hotel.
One of my favorite medals!
Post race food
After checking out of the hotel, I met up with one of my good friends to eat at the Wicked Spoon. It was my first time checking it out. It is definitely now my favorite Vegas buffet. The portions are well controlled. Most items are put into individual sized containers. That really helps with people that hoard certain food items. Their carving station was also pretty good with beef, sausages, and chicken. I think this place is better than the Bacchanal Buffet over at Caesar's Palace. But I would still go to The Buffet over at the Bellagio as they were the first to raise the bar and kept that bar high for a long time. Now the Wicked Spoon and Bacchanal have raised that bar, but with that comes long lines and a heftier price tag. It is my observation that most people that eat here do not eat enough and should just eat at a nice regular restaurant.
Wicked Spoon!
Plate#1
Plate#2
Plate#3
Going home
After resting a bit, I began my trek back home. It was raining cats and dogs! It rained so much that one lane of the highway was flooded. It was crawl. Once we've gotten past that section, the flow of traffic then picked up. Until next time.
Heavy downpour, freeway was partly flooded
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